The Nhanhagardi language, also written Nana karti, Nanakarti, Nanakarri, Nanakari, and Nanakati, and also known as Wilunyu, Wiri, Minangu, Barimaia and Jaburu (meaning "northern peoples"), is an

Aboriginal Australian language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

of the Champion Bay area of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. No speakers of the language have been recorded since 1975 and through successive

Australian census The Census in Australia, officially the Census of Population and Housing, is the national census in Australia that occurs every five years. The census collects key demographic, social and economic data from all people in Australia on census nig ...

es up to 2016. According to Vaso Elefsiniotis of the Irra Wangga Language Centre, Nhanhagardi usually refers to the traditional language and people of Champion Bay. There was some doubt about its existence and classification, but , its status is confirmed on AIATSIS. According to Clarrie Cameron, who is of Nhanhagardi descent, "Pulinya" (AIATSIS W43) is an old name for Nhanhagardi, but ''

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...

'' equates it with the Yinggarda language. Cameron also says that Nhanhagardi is a Nhanda (S14) language.

Language revival

, "Wilunyu (also known as Nhanhagardi)" is one of 20 languages prioritised as part of the Priority Languages Support Project, being undertaken by First Languages Australia and funded by the

Department of Communications and the Arts The Australian Department of Communications and the Arts was a department of the Government of Australia charged with responsibility for communications policy and programs and cultural affairs. In December 2019, prime minister Scott Morrison ...

. The project aims to "identify and document critically-endangered languages — those languages for which little or no documentation exists, where no recordings have previously been made, but where there are living speakers".

References

{{Pama–Nyungan languages, West Endangered indigenous Australian languages in Western Australia Mid West (Western Australia)